Toronto Maple Leafs Hire Mark Leach
Ken Campbell of The Hockey News: At some point, the Toronto Maple Leafs will need to draft and develop from within. Having limited draft picks focuses a higher priority on getting those few picks right.
Naturally, the Leafs went and hired Mark Leach to be their Amateur Scouting Director. Going from Wes Clark to Leach is not too bad of a recovery for Toronto. Yes, the Maple Leafs have taken their fair share of hits. However, Leach comes with a solid pedigree.
That includes working in Dallas with Jim Nill and Joe McDonnell. McDonnell was the right-hand man of Nill who found several high-quality gems in the middle and late rounds.
Toronto has three picks in each of the next two years. At least, there is a first-round pick in 2026. However, in 2025 there are none. The Maple Leafs get a full complement of picks for 2027. Leach will not have an easy job early.
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Calgary Paving Way For New Arena And More
Eric Francis of Sportsnet: Yes, the Calgary Flames start setting the foundation for a new. This expects to be a long process but Monday will begin construction for a new home for the Calgary Flames.
Calgary has not had an easy time of it the past couple of seasons. Hope is that the new arena would be ready by the start of the 2027-28 season. Calgary will cover $330 million of the cost to take care of infrastructure concerns.
Now, it will be intriguing to see what the new building looks like when it is finished. The only arena older than the Saddledome is Madison Square Garden. Even that is a technicality of sorts. The New York Rangers’ arena was modernized a decade ago.
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Monday will be quite the day indeed and only the beginning.